Out of the Blue

This photo is a nice contrast between human squalor and the purity of light and water. I've worked on the squalor a little since I took the picture. I've scraped a lot of the caliche off the chrome and cleaned the tile but it looks about the same. A couple of days ago I got up at 0445 so I could take the dogs and myself for a nice long walk before it got too hot, as I always do, but the sun caught up with me and clobbered me into a sweaty bad temper before I got home. Owing to a cash flow problem I had not had the swamp cooler fixed and I was trying to survive without. True, my house is adobe, but it still gets pretty hot inside when the high temp is 106F - about 41C, and the low temp is 83F. I was feeling miserable when the phone rang. It was the son of my friend who is having intensive chemo and radiation. He is looking after her house and dog (Jack). He said he was coming down to fix my cooler and lo and behold he drove 60 miles and had it fixed and running in no time. Sometimes when I am too cynical I have to remind myself that kindness exists and sometimes hits close to home thank god!

If that wasn't good enough for one day, I went to a goodbye party for an artist-priest who is moving on to another tiny congregation. Priesting is his day job. The rest of the time he paints gender bending versions of renaissance religious paintings. Big. He is totally obsessed with art and doesn't seem to care about exhibiting his work. J seems to think he might get lynched by a congregation one day, but I think she underestimates the tolerance even of West Texans. When he hugged me goodbye he told me I was beautiful. First time anyone ever lied like that to my face! I figured either he says that to everyone or he thought a poor old wreck like me needed a kind word. Of course what I really think is that he is a true artist and discerned my Good Bone Structure.

The best thing about this time and place is the lovely balminess of the nights. I wander the roads eating figs and apricots from the trees that line the ditches. Kids play basketball in the parks in the hot darkness and everywhere people are sitting or walking or bicycling far from their TVs and sometimes without their cell phones!